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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. bear — the animal
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. file — a tool
  7. file — a line of people
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. bear — the animal
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. wake — a trail
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. tube — the underground
  21. file — a document
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. straw — a straw man

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com